Extreme Tornadoes: Is Michigan Immune?

SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - As residents in the South try to recover from a stream of rare and deadly tornadoes, many Metro Detroiters are wondering about their own safety.

AccuWeather Meteorologist Dr. Joe Sobel said he's never seen anything like it.

"You could actually see on the radar, the debris picked up by the tornado... The trees and the homes, the debris from the homes, you could actually see on the core of the radar, with those storms. And I've never seen that live. I've seen it in test books, but never live. It was truly just astounding," Sobel said.

So, what is the likelihood of Southeast Michigan getting slammed with 5-F tornadoes?

WWJ's Chrystal Knight spoke with meteorologist Matt Mosteiko with the National Weather Service in Metro Detroit.

"Both of those low-pressure systems that caused those tornadoes tracked over Michigan as well. The heavy rain that we saw today is remnant of that low," he said.

"It is possible for that same type of low-pressure setup to kind of happen here in Michigan.  But what protects us is the cold, stable air over the lakes kind of force the storm track to be from southwest to northeast -- and kind of make a field-goal between the lakes there,  between Lake Erie and Lake Michigan," Mosteiko said.

Mosteiko says that less than 5 percent of tornadoes are as strong as those which devastated the south.

As reported by CBS News, dozens of tornadoes ripped through the South, flattening homes and businesses and killing at least 215 people in six states in the deadliest outbreak in nearly 40 years. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said it received 137 tornado reports into Wednesday night. More at CBSNews.com.